I am attempting to represent the inner or essential qualities of common objects which show up in magick. While doing this I realized how little time I spend trying to articulate, particularly in a condensed way, essential qualities of objects. Having done one of them I think this might be something interesting to put up for the forum, so I am posting these here with an invitation to post your own.

Using the bagua I came up with a less than perfect representation (Ts'ui; Lake over Earth, called Collecting Together) "it will be advantageous to see the great man. There will be progress, though firm perseverance is required if the most is to be made of this auspicious time. great sacrifices will be conductive to good fortune; movement in any direction will be advantages."

My next attempt was a bit more successful. I used the parts of the dollar sign ($) To make a sigil consisting of an equilateral triangle representing the material base of money, and wavy lines passing through them to represent the fluid kinetic aspect of money.

Cosmic consciousness is devoid of diversity; yet the universe of diversity exists in notion....We contemplate that reality in which everything exists, to which everything belongs,from which everything has emerged, which is the cause of everything and which is everything....The light of [this] self-knowledge alone illumines all experiences. It shines by its own light.This inner light appears to be outside and to illumine external objects.

Interesting... how mainstream do you want this to be? I mean.... is this a mental imaging device meant just for you, or are you going to use this to convey meaning to others?

I ask cause it's an interesting figure, but it's very ambigious.

Have you ever studied Chinese Kanji? I have a book that talks about the pictographical nature of chinese kanji, and it sounds like chinese kanji might fit with what you're trying to do. The Spirit of the Chinese Character - Gifts from the Heart by Barbara Aria and Russell Eng Gon

Kanji are basically pictograms that use very specific imagery to convey certain concepts and ideas, without giving regard to spoken language. The pictograms are universal enough that kanji are used through out china to send and receive knowledge around the country. This would be impossible without kanji because there are at least 2 seperate languages that dominate throughout china, and i'm not entirely sure they've documented all the little sub dialects that exist. Regardless, the language that unites the country is the written language of the kanji, not a spoken one.

Basically, i'm curious as to what you're trying to do. Are you trying to convey meaning to others or enhance your own imagery?

I mean.... is this a mental imaging device meant just for you, or are you going to use this to convey meaning to others?

I ask cause it's an interesting figure, but it's very ambigious.

Have you ever studied Chinese Kanji?

Basically, i'm curious as to what you're trying to do. Are you trying to convey meaning to others or enhance your own imagery?

Its a meditation tool, an exercise in thinking deeply about the inner nature of an concept - in this case money. It does not need to be assessable to everyone at a glance just represent in some way the concepts inner nature as you see it. My first thought was to use the Chinese ideograms but they represent a cultural frame that limits what someone from without that culture can do with it. Money likes to amass and it is most useful in large quantities which are used to gain material goods. Therefore it is fluid, generative, and material. The reason why I tried baguas was that they are very useful for expressing subtle relationships but they are not so useful without the cultural information they represent. That is why I used a picture. I think in someways a pictogram can express the same idea but without needing the culture.

--------------------

Cosmic consciousness is devoid of diversity; yet the universe of diversity exists in notion....We contemplate that reality in which everything exists, to which everything belongs,from which everything has emerged, which is the cause of everything and which is everything....The light of [this] self-knowledge alone illumines all experiences. It shines by its own light.This inner light appears to be outside and to illumine external objects.

mmmmm..... I think divorcing the meaning from the culture is only kinda useful, but i think i have an idea of what you mean.

Culture implies an unspoken context. That context can change and modify the meaning of that which you're focusing on.

I think divorcing and ignoring the cultural context of the ideogram/pictogram is only so-so useful in that there's always going to be a context that developes as the pictogram/ideogram is used. Divorcing it from a given culture is useful if that culture is so foreign as to prevent an outsider from ever having a chance of honestly understanding that context, but it does nothing to prevent your own context from building up around a given focus, which may negatively effect the meaning of the symbol.

In cases where the meaning of the pictogram is not simple, or in which the symbology encorporates multiple ideas, it might not convey the proper meaning. In that sense, you may be removing a tool, but, I understand what you're putting forth a bit more now.

I think divorcing and ignoring the cultural context of the ideogram/pictogram is only so-so useful in that there's always going to be a context that developes as the pictogram/ideogram is used. Divorcing it from a given culture is useful if that culture is so foreign as to prevent an outsider from ever having a chance of honestly understanding that context, but it does nothing to prevent your own context from building up around a given focus, which may negatively effect the meaning of the symbol.

An important point, and normally I am more interested in what a culture thinks about something than what essential qualities it might have. That is actually why I am doing a ideogram. I am forced to deal with the essentialism. I wanted to see if there was something, anything, I could say is quintessentially money. It seems not, but I did learn something.

Continuing to meditate on both the Bagua and the ideogram produced how the two diverge. Using the millenia of meaning built up around the Bagua leads to a more energetic understanding of money. While my ideogram seems to have lead me not to any essential qualities but rather to a richer understanding of how I (and perhaps my culture) think, use and interact with money.

I am still interested to see how others represent the idea of money. It may or may not illuminate some universal properties but it would be fun to see.

--------------------

Cosmic consciousness is devoid of diversity; yet the universe of diversity exists in notion....We contemplate that reality in which everything exists, to which everything belongs,from which everything has emerged, which is the cause of everything and which is everything....The light of [this] self-knowledge alone illumines all experiences. It shines by its own light.This inner light appears to be outside and to illumine external objects.

I am attempting to represent the inner or essential qualities of common objects which show up in magick. While doing this I realized how little time I spend trying to articulate, particularly in a condensed way, essential qualities of objects. Having done one of them I think this might be something interesting to put up for the forum, so I am posting these here with an invitation to post your own.

Using the bagua I came up with a less than perfect representation (Ts'ui; Lake over Earth, called Collecting Together) "it will be advantageous to see the great man. There will be progress, though firm perseverance is required if the most is to be made of this auspicious time. great sacrifices will be conductive to good fortune; movement in any direction will be advantages."

My next attempt was a bit more successful. I used the parts of the dollar sign ($) To make a sigil consisting of an equilateral triangle representing the material base of money, and wavy lines passing through them to represent the fluid kinetic aspect of money.

I really like this idea... Money is the great initiator of material wealth in our lives. Its liquid and fluid and flows back and forth between saving and spending and back to saving. If it is spent where the most can benefit, it draws the most to it. It monetizes the resources required for survival as well as potential future values allowing us to make wiser decisions in the investment of our resources.

Its sister is energy which is mostly represented by oil currently, but this won't last forever and has been changing for a long time. Whats the next best pattern that models what money represents.

Is it's sister really energy? Whats the best source of energy in this world? Maybe electromagnetic fields? Vortex mathematics?